Packaging cards are used in the lint adhesive roller industry to support a single refill packaging spool. When the user of a lint adhesive roller is finished with the present roll, the user replaces the roll with the refill spool. The refill spool requires a packaging card in order to be on display in a retail environment. The bottom of the packaging card supports the single refill from the bottom. The middle of the packaging card extends through the center of the refill spool. The top of the packaging card, or header panel, is used to hang the refill spool from a display hook.
A principle difficulty of prior art devices is that they cannot be transported in their assembled state from the packaging card manufacturer to the refill spool manufacturer. When prior devices are created by the packaging card manufacturer they are transported as an unassembled flat sheet. This is convenient for transportation because the cards can be stacked, thereby reducing the size of the shipping package. The refill spool manufacturer receives the unassembled cards, and proceeds to fold the device into the assembled state. The requirement for assembly involves another operation for the refill spool manufacturer who may not have the specialized equipment to fold the card, or may not want to endure the expense to manually fold the card.
Prior devices are also cumbersome to manufacture. Packaging cards must be folded in order to create a sufficiently strong support to hold a refill spool. Some prior packaging cards must be folded in more than one rotational direction, for instance both clockwise and counter-clockwise. It is difficult for a machine to rotate a card in more than one rotational direction.
Another difficulty is that prior devices require the use of slots and hooks in the packaging card to maintain the folds in place. This further complicates the assembly process whether manual or by machine.
Yet another difficulty involves the header panel. The header panel must be wider than the inner radius of the refill spool. The wider header panel prevents the packaging card from falling out of the refill spool. However, since the header panel is wider than the inner radius of the refill spool, prior manufacturing devices were required to fold two sides of the header panel in order to initially aggregate the packaging card with the refill spool, resulting in a finished product. It is cumbersome to those in the art to design a manufacturing device to fold two sides of the header panel.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for novel packaging cards that address at least some of the deficiencies of prior art devices.